I have been lucky enough to travel all over the world tasting amazing food and am often asked what the best I have ever tasted is so the only way to answer is to list the top 5 based on flavour, consistancy and local produce. This will run over the next few days with the big winner being announced on Friday!This might come as surprise to a lot of people as this country is probably better known for it's wine than it's culinary ability but believe me for those of you who havn't been lucky wnough to visit this gem of a country yet there is a beautiful range of gastronomic treats awaiting you if you do make it there! The country not only has huge Oceans surrounding it packed with incredible fish but has vast acres of incredibly fertile land that is not only perfect for growing wine but also everything thing from osterich to warthog! I must say that the cuisine does lean towards meat quite heavily but there are always plenty of seafood options.

The other best thing about SA is that it is like a huge melting pot of cultures with African food sitting alongside the best of Indian, Chinese and Western cooking. What has happened over the years is that there is natural fusion cooking that has developped rather than just some random chef throwing wasabi on parsnips and calling it fusion! The fusion element actually works really well here to the extent that some of the best curries I have ever had were in Durban and I think it must have a lot to do with the quality of ingredients the chefs are workig with.

The best thing about SA is that it is a country well and truly on the rise from a culinary perspective as they have had bigger battles to fight over the last century. Now that there are a new crop of chefs coming through and torism is booming the quality will only rise along with their ranking on this list in the future.

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Niall is the chef on iFoods.tv and this where he writes about the global food scene, reviews restaurants and dishes the dirt from behind the stove. He has cooked for some of the world's richest and most famous people including Bill Gates, Paris Hilton and Lance Armstrong and shares all his best recipes here.